Milk
by HorcruxCupcake
Summary: Post ep for S29E27 Zax Oneshot. Bit of a disaster at the hotel causes Zoe and Max to have a chat about their living arrangements. Less serious, more fluff.


**A/N: Such a funny episode, I love that whiplash girl and I actually kind of felt bad for Cal at the end and Connie as well. Stop trying to guilt trip me into leaving Team Zoe and Team Ethan! The chocolate that Max hid for Zoe was so sweet though I absolutely loved it! Max is so perfect but unfortunately Zoe seems to be keeping him all to herself. :/ Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! :D**

* * *

"What time did you finish your shift?" asked Zoe as she walked into the hotel to find Max lying on the bed, half asleep.

"Hello Zoe, good evening to you too" replied Max rolling over to face her, watching her from behind as she stepped out of her heels and hung up her coat.

"Sorry I just thought it was odd you finished earlier than normal."

"Mmm hmm I had something I needed to do"

"Like what?" she turned around "Stop staring at me"

"Don't ever get a boob job" Max said, out of the blue.

"What?"

"Just don't ok. Whiplash girl mentioned it earlier, then again everyone thought she was lying so maybe she was talking some sense. Her boobs were big enough already though really."

"Max, you do realise what you're saying don't you?"

"I didn't ask she just mentioned it in passing" he stumbled trying and failing (much like earlier in the ED) to explain himself.

"Max"

"Yes"

"Shut up"

Max sighed

"So what were you doing earlier?" Zoe asked

"Did you enjoy your lunch?"

"Don't change the subject"

"Do you want a cuppa?" Max jumped up heading over towards the kettle.

"Yes" said Zoe curtly, eyeing him suspiciously but deciding to let the matter drop. "And chocolate for lunch, really Max?"

"I bet you didn't even eat the salad did you?"

"You know me too well"

Max smiled "Oh we're out of milk" he realised.

"I'll call for some more" said Zoe heading over towards the phone to ring reception. They were still waiting for milk 20 minutes later.

"Max go downstairs and ask for some milk"

"We've already called them 3 times"

"Twice Max. I've only called them back once."

"We've still rung them"

"And, in case you haven't noticed, they still haven't come. They've probably forgotten about us."

"You're the one who wants milk. I can drink it black."

"Which tastes absolutely vile and anyway you suggested tea."

"Do you ever think it would be easier if we got our own place?" Max flopped back onto the bed, obviously not going anywhere.

"What like a flat?"

"Yeah, I mean we practically live together anyway but let's face it we can't stay here forever and it'd be nice to have our own place. Without having to rely on others for things like milk."

"I suppose" Zoe replied lying down beside him and looking up at the ceiling, thinking "But it'd make it official."

"Exactly"

"I don't know Max, wait this isn't about what I said last week is it?"

"Don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do"

"No I don't"

"So why are you suggesting getting our own place?"

"So we can get milk whenever we need it" he said abruptly, standing up and grabbing his shoes.

"Max I'm sorry, I didn't mean it"

"Yeah ok. I'll go and get the milk" he said quietly leaving the room.

Zoe held her hair back from her face, trying to clear her head. Things had been a little bit tense between them over the past week since she turned down his marriage proposal but they were getting back to normal; then he'd made her lunch today and she thought they were past it.

She'd explained to Max why she didn't want to get married and he said he understood but she didn't really understand it herself. She just knew that she needed more time to adjust to the idea that she would be taking away Max's future of having a family but more significantly (which she hadn't told Max) the reason she didn't want to get married was because she'd been single for so long and didn't want the commitment. That wasn't to say she didn't want everything with Max, she did, just without all the added paper work and loss of freedom she supposed. The age gap didn't even really bother her anymore. Certainly not after that man and woman in the ED today; at least she wasn't old enough to be Max's mother. In fact it was more the idea of marriage that put her off rather than not wanting to marry Max. She'd tried to explain it to herself more times that she tried to explain it to Max and had no success either way.

There was a sudden knock on the door, breaking Zoe out of her reverie.

"Your milk" the room service man said handing her a bag full off just about everything.

'_Hotels.'_ Zoe thought '_If they'd just sent the milk maybe it would have been here half an hour ago.'_ "Thank you" she smiled, closing the door on him.

Zoe had only just put the bag off assortments down when there was another knock on the door. She opened it thinking it would be Max but was surprised to see a different member of staff standing on the other side.

"I believe you rang for some milk" he said handing her a bag much like the one the first man had given her.

"Thanks" Zoe said taking the bag off him and walking away, trying to keep a straight face.

"In a minute Max is going to come back with even more milk" she muttered to herself placing the bag down on the side and boiling the kettle up again.

'_Where has Max got to with that milk?'_ wondered Zoe after nearly 10 more minutes had passed. She'd poured them both a cup of tea for when he came back in but she'd nearly drunk half of hers and his was just stood going cold.

She gave it another five minutes then decided to go and look for him to make sure everything was alright. She wouldn't put it past Max to accidently cause a disaster when doing a simple task such as fetching some milk. Low and behold, when she stepped out of the lift she saw him heading in her direction, dodging a mop and brush that someone placed in front of him nearly making him trip over.

"What's going on? What took you so long?" asked Zoe as Max came up to her.

"I might have split the milk" Max explained sheepishly "And broke the jug which they added to the bill apparently."

"You'd think with your job you'd be a lot better at carrying things around than you actually are" Zoe said.

Suddenly there was a crash and a scream behind them making them both turn around. A girl had slipped in the wet patch on the floor where someone had failed to put a wet floor sign.

"If the hotel had just brought our milk when they asked for it" Zoe said to Max, exasperation filling her voice, as she ran over towards the girl.

"I still can't believe that you managed to break a girl's ankle without actually doing anything." said Zoe later on, finally sitting down with a cup of tea.

"Technically it wasn't my fault. It was a breach in health and safety. Whiplash girl would be claiming for compensation by now."

"Who is this whiplash girl?"

"The one who was getting a boob job."

"Yeah, who is she?"

"Driver in the RTC with Alfred Maxwell"

"Oh her. Did you know she'd died?"

"No" he sat up, more alert.

"Yeah she collapsed while talking to Maxwell and there was nothing we could do."

"Oh. I knew she wasn't actually lying like everyone thought she was and there was actually something wrong with her leg but I didn't think it was that serious."

"I don't think anyone did."

"It wasn't you fault."

"I know" Zoe nodded "It's just we see so much, sometimes I think we miss things because we assume we've seen the case already before. If we'd have treated her properly maybe none of this would have happened."

"Well look on the bright side" said Max attempting to distract her.

"There's a bright side?"

"There's always a bright side" Zoe raised her eyebrows "And this time… the good thing that has come from today is… and it tends to happen every day actually..."

A knock on the door gave Max the lucky escape he was hoping for "I'll get it" he jumped up.

Zoe laughed "Saved by the bell there Max"

"You know if we had our own place we'd have a real doorbell" he said

"Just open the door" she said.

Max did as he was told and frowned when he saw one of the hotel staff standing in front of him holding a bag.

"You ordered some milk, sir" the man said holding the bag out.

Zoe just shook her head as she listened to Max complaining about how long they had took and the fact that they hadn't ordered any extra tea, coffee, hot chocolate and whatever else was it that bag. Eventually he'd shut the door and placed the bag down on the counter.

"Hang on" he said looking at the 2 bags Zoe had put there earlier "When did these appear?" he asked.

"Ok I give in, we can get our own place" said Zoe disbelievingly.

"I don't know. How much do you think I could make if I sold this coffee?"

"Max!"

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading! :)**


End file.
